Congressional District 16 candidate Evan Low wins 2nd place as recount breaks historic tie

The recount to break a historic tie in the race for the 16th Congressional District ended with Assemblymember Evan Low narrowly securing second place over Santa Clara Co. Supervisor Joe Simitian, moving Low to the November election.

On Tuesday, the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters finished its recount. Low and Simitian gained 11 votes and seven votes, respectively. The reason the race wasn't called, though, was because the San Mateo County Registrar of Voters was still reviewing ballots that were being challenged — Its original machine recount maintained the same number of votes.

"Of those 28 challenged ballots, 12 related to signature verification and 16 related to postmark issues. The challenged ballot process resulted in 21 challenges that were rejected and 7 were accepted," the San Mateo ROV said on Wednesday.

In the end, it put Low ahead by one more vote — five in total.

In a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter), Low said in part, "My team and I knew that succeeding the esteemed Anna Eshoo would be challenging, so we see a race ending in a tie followed by a recount as character building for your next representative in Congress. We are very excited that my advancement into the general election was reaffirmed and I now look forward to the real work of tackling the big issues facing our country like reproductive freedom and affordability."

Simitian released a statement conceding the race.

"The good news is the 16th congressional district's long painful exercise counting the votes is over! The not-so-good news: we have come up short. I lost, and I concede. I trust the process, and I accept the result," Simitian said. "I want to congratulate Assemblymember Evan Low and former Mayor Sam Liccardo. I have spoken to them both to wish them well. I look forward to the lively campaign they will undoubtedly run."

Former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, who won first place in the March election, also released a statement regarding the recount results.

"Previously uncounted votes were counted. We can now re-focus on our work ahead, toward solutions to our region's and nation's great challenges, such as homelessness, the high cost of living, climate change, public safety, and protecting reproductive rights," a statement said.

The recount was requested in early April. Following news of the recall, Low's campaign had issued a statement denouncing the effort as "dirty tricks to attack democracy."

"This is a page right out of Trump's political playbook using dirty tricks to attack democracy and subvert the will of the voters. Sam Liccardo, who does not live in the district, did not file a recount himself. Instead, he had his former staffer do it for him. What's he afraid of?" an Evan Low campaign spokesperson said at the time.

Instead of three candidates, voters in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties will now have to choose between two in November: Liccardo and Low.